{"id":10041,"date":"2022-01-17T15:19:30","date_gmt":"2022-01-17T14:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=162030"},"modified":"2022-01-17T15:33:09","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T14:33:09","slug":"composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Composer Sarah Schachner on what it is like to write music for video games"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By BBC Music Magazine\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The late instalment in the action role-playing game series, Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla<\/i>, is set in 873 AD, with players controlling raider Eivor in the Viking invasion of Britain. Sarah Schachner was the composer behind its dynamic score. She\u2019s also written scores for video games including\u00a0Call of Duty\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Need for Speed<\/em>, and has worked as an arranger on films such as\u00a0Now You See Me\u00a0<\/em>and Iron Man 3.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

How did you choose the particular instrumentation in Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla<\/em>?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
I wanted the atmosphere of the score to instantly transport the player to another time and place, filled with mystery and uncertainty. There are Norse instruments, but they are used in a more modern way. The score not only represents Eivor\u2019s journey, but also the Vikings\u2019 hope for a better life as they move south into the Anglo-Saxon regions.<\/span><\/p>\n
With this series, it seems to be very much about setting the mood of the time and place. How are you bringing a \u2018historical\u2019-sounding dimension to this soundtrack?<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Some of the settings are so far back in history that we don\u2019t totally know what the music of the time would have sounded like, outside of educated guesses and some knowledge of regional instruments. For Valhalla, I used a variety of Scandinavian folk instruments like the tagelharpa<\/i> and lyre.\u00a0After Einar Selvik sang on the main theme that I co-wrote with Jesper Kyd, I had him sing on some other tracks I was working on for that authentic Norse sound he brings.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">You wrote the music for the <i>Modern Warfare<\/i> and <i>Infinite Warfare<\/i> instalments of the first-person shooter <i>Call of Duty<\/i>. How does it compare?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\"><i>Call of Duty<\/i> is cut together like an action film. The story campaign has clear-cut objectives and moves forward steadily in a fairly linear fashion. In an open-world role-playing game like<i> Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/i>, the player has much more agency over what they do when and there are a wider variety of scenarios that need music. There\u2019s a bigger emphasis on immersion over linear storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Any <i>Assassin\u2019s Creed<\/i> highlights?<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\">Some of my favourite parts of the game to score are the \u2018Reach High Point\u2019 moments. If the player has taken the time to explore and climb up a large building or structure for instance, I get to reward them with a special piece of music as they take in the beautiful view from the top. Getting to punctuate moments like that and deepen the emotional experience is rewarding in itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\""p1"\"><span class=\""s1"\"><i>Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla is now available for Xbox, PlayStation and more.\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-container"\" data-position=\""adhoc"\" hidden=\"\"> <h5 class=\""monetizerprice-comparison-title\" monetizer-title=\"\" style=\""background-color:\" color:=\"\"\/> <div id=\""monetizer__deals"\" data-type=\""price-comparison"\" data-config=\"'{"shopId":"1378","market":"gbp_en","template":"default","searchKeywords":"Assassin\\u2019s\" creed=\"\" valhalla=\"\"\/> <div class=\""monetizer__price-comparison-explanatory-text\" body-copy-extra-small=\"\" editor-content=\"\"\/><\/div><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BBC Music Magazine Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am The late instalment in the action role-playing game series, Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla, is set in 873 AD, with players controlling raider Eivor in the Viking invasion of Britain. Sarah Schachner was the composer behind its dynamic score. She\u2019s also written scores for video […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10042,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games.jpg",2000,1270,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games-300x191.jpg",300,191,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games-768x488.jpg",768,488,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games-1024x650.jpg",800,508,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games-1536x975.jpg",1536,975,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/01\/composer-sarah-schachner-on-what-it-is-like-to-write-music-for-video-games.jpg",2000,1270,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Monday, 17 January 2022 at 12:00 am The late instalment in the action role-playing game series, Assassin\u2019s Creed Valhalla, is set in 873 AD, with players controlling raider Eivor in the Viking invasion of Britain. Sarah Schachner was the composer behind its dynamic score. She\u2019s also written scores for video…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}